Biography David Allan

David Allan was a Scottish painter and illustrator, best known for historical subjects and genre* works. He was born at Alloa in central Scotland. On leaving Foulis's Academy of Painting* at Glasgow (1762), after seven years' successful study, he obtained the patronage of Lord Cathcart and of Erskine of Mar, on whose estate he had been born. Erskine made it possible for him to travel to Rome (1764), where he remained until 1777, studying under Gavin Hamilton and copying the old masters.

In 1771 he sent two history paintings, Pompey the Great after his Defeat and Cleopatra Weeping Over the Ashes of Mark Antony (both now lost) to the Royal Academy* exhibition in London. In 1773, Allan, still in Rome, won the Accademia di
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